Tom`s travels: Warsaw & Gdansk (28/10-02/11/2016)

After getting several days off for Halloween, we decided to head north and visit Warsaw and Gdansk. After getting a train from Krakow Glowny, Ania, Julia, Lara and I, reached Warsaw in about 2 hours and a half. The train was very comfortable and really cheap especially for us students. After reaching Warsaw's train station, we went out and were greeted by an incredible night view of the modern part of the city. The famous Palace of Culture and Science, built in 1955, was even more impressive due to its history. After reaching our hostel, The Warsaw Hostel, we left our bags and headed out for the night. We met with Ania's friend, and went to have some drinks at an area called Pawilony which is popular among young people in Warsaw. We chose one of the may bars and stayed there for a bit. After we decided to head to a club where we had more drinks and danced for a while. At that point it had become quite late, so we decided to head back to sleep. At around 5am we reached the hostel, where at the first floor of the same building a wedding had taken place and there was still all the food remaining. We sneakily tried to gather as much as we could but the security caught us, and followed us to the hostel itself, located at the end of the corridor. I had managed to get a whole pig leg and swiftly hid in the common fridge when the security asked me where I put the meat. I denied and after a bit even the security gave up and just left. We said goodbye to Ania and her friend Agata, as they would be staying at her house, because Ania was going to head to her aunt's house the next day. After a groggy wake up, we managed to leave the hostel around 1pm and quickly looked for a place to have brunch. After that we headed towards the old town to at least see something; we walked along Warsaw's best known and most prestigious street Krakowskie Przedmiescie. Sided by important buildings such as the Presidential Palace and several churches it lead us to the city's main square; the Castle Square. This triangular shaped square marks the beginning of the Old Town and features the Royal Castle at its eastern end, several tenement houses all around and the Sigismund's Column at its center. The column is one of the city's oldest monuments, dating to 1644 and depicts King Sigismund III Wasa, who at the time moved the capital from Krakow to Warsaw. As basically all of the old town, also the column has been reconstructed after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising when 85% of the city was completely destroyed by the German forces. We decided to join the Free Walking Tour which was going to start exactly below the column. The lady that gave us the tour was very nice and friendly and showed us around the city giving us interesting insights. We started from the castle's courtyard, moving to St John's Archcathedral. From there we headed behind the church in the Kanonia square where a bell from the 17th century stands at its center, which the Germans tried to take away during WWII but due to the bell's size where never able to do so. We then reached the Rynek, the Market Square, lined by beautifully reconstructed tenement houses; at its center stands a fountain with a statue of a mermaid, symbol of the city. After exiting the old town from the northern side, we passed through the fortified Barbican and stopped in front of Marie Sklodowska Curie's house. Further on we passed through what was once the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw, completely destroyed along the rest of the city during WWII. After the tour was over I managed to contact my friend Andrii and meet with him for the day. We went to drink a beer at a place in the market square and went to eat dinner at a nice restaurant called Bazyliszek. After dinner as we were quite tired we headed back to the hostel to sleep and told Andrii we would meet the next day. We woke up earlier the next morning and had a quick breakfast close to the hostel; we then took the tram and headed to the Lazienki Park. The park is the largest in the city and features several buildings all around it such as the Lazienki Palace at its center, an orangerie, a chinese garden and others. All over the place were super cute squirrels running around and coming really close. We enjoyed a stroll around and then got back into the tram headed towards the city center. Back into town we took another free walking tour this time of the other side of the river neighborhood called Praga. This part of Warsaw is considered a kind of alternative and in some sense dangerous (though it did not seem so) area of the city. So after crossing the bridge over the Vistula river, we passed by St Florian's Cathedral, and moved on through the streets of the neighborhood. Most of the buildings in the area have remained relatively untouched since the war and thus present the scars such as partial destruction and some even having bullet holes on the facades. The tour was quite interesting but the neighborhood felt a bit pushed on the alternative side for tourists. After the tour we were quite hungry and decided to look for a place to eat. We found a Mleczny Bar and had a quick and cheap lunch. From there we headed back into the city and stopped in the orthodox church of St Mary Magdalene on the way. We then decided to visit the Palace of Culture and Science itself. After paying the hefty entrance fee of 15zl, we took the elevator to the 30th floor at 114 meters and had a great view over the city. We then met again with Andrii and headed to the Warsaw Uprising Museum which presented artifacts, stories and description of the event. In 1944, for 63 days, the Polish resistance Home Army attempted to liberate Warsaw from German occupation; however the whole city was destroyed as a consequence and thousands of people killed. After saying our goodbye to Andrii, we headed back to the hostel to sleep.

The next morning after waking up not too early we took the 10:30 train and reached Gdansk 2hours and a half later; as we had seen the weather was not going to be nice for the next few days we decided to head to Sopot as soon as we arrived as it was just cloudy. We took a suburban train right after getting to the station and in 20 minutes reached the nearby town of Sopot. This resort town had a pretty town center, which we traversed to reach the other end and the Baltic sea. On the huge beach, jutting out into the water, stands the longest wooden pier in Europe with 512m of length. After enjoying the view despite the freezing cold wind, I wanted to test out the waters of the Baltic sea, and taking off a shoe I dipped my foot; it was extremely cold but worth the try. On the way back we stopped to eat a buger at Bobby Burger where I took a super spicy one called Nie Dasz Rady or "You can't do it"; in fact they also made me sign a liability waiver in case it was too spicy for me.
After taking the suburban train back to Gdansk, it was already dark but we decided to visit the town nonetheless. First we headed to our hostel, La Guitarra, located at the north eastern end of town. From there we descended along the canal, passing by the Straganiarska Gate, St John's Gate, the incredible medieval Crane built in the 15th century, St Mary's Gate. From there we passed under the gate, walked along the Mariacka street with nice dutch styled houses, and reached the immense St Mary's church considered among the third largest brick church in the world. We then walked along Piwna street and reached the Old Arsenal built in Dutch Mannerist style, we turned left and walked a little further reaching Ulica Dluga, or Long Lane, the city's main street. At one end stand the Golden Gate, built in a nice Dutch Mannerism style; from the we walked east and reached the city's main square: Dlugi Targ or Long Market. Around it stand the most beautiful palaces, houses and buildings of the city, including the 16th century Town Hall. At the center left side of the square stands the beautiful Neptune's Fountain, built in 1617, which reminded me a lot of the fountains in Rome. Passing under the Green Gate, built in a Flemish Mannerist style during the 16th century, we exited the town through its eastern end. We crossed the bridge and continued on as we were planning to eat something for dinner. We eventually found a place called Nova Pierogova, where I had some delicious pierogi filled with salmon. It was late so we decided to head back to the hostel; once in the room we found out that most of the beds in the dormitory were taken, and apparently a Russian guy had put his stuff on the bed I had chosen; I discussed with him but he didn't seem to understand (or didn't want to), so as soon as he left the room i just switched my stuff with his. The other roomates were all turkish students; and unfortunately a guy among them smelled so bad it was nearly impossible to sleep. After eventually falling asleep, we woke up the next day with rain pouring outside; it was the 1st of november so basically all museums and shops were closed. We decided to head into the city after having breakfast in the hostel. We headed to Dlugi Targ and observed the city in the daylight; we then proceed to visit St Mary's Church as it was one of the few things that was at least open. We entered the huge Gothic church and payed the ticket to climb the 80m tower, which costed only 4zl. The walk up was quite an attraction to itself, as it consisted of an old staircase which wound all the way up and giving views over the nave rooftop inside the church. Once up, despite the rain, we had a really nice view over the city, being able to see all the main churches and the town hall. Once back down, we visited the rest of the church, which had mostly burned during WWII along with most of the city, this time at the order of the Soviet Army, as it had been controlled by the German forces. Inside were still some things remaining, such as a nice organ, the main altar, and a beautiful 15th century astronomical clock. From there we headed to another large church; the Church of St John; a mass was taking place so we decided to sit at the back to see the inside. Same thing went with the nearby church of St Nicholas, also built in a gothic style. We then passed by the church of St Catherine which was unfortunately closed, and headed back in the city center to grab a hot drink. As most things were closed we decided to go to the movie theater and see a movie; we chose Inferno which was quite nice and gave us respite from the cold outside. After the movie we headed into town again and decided to climb the Panoramic Wheel, or Amber Sky, which was located just across the canal from the old town. Price was quite expensive, for about 28zl we could ride for 20 minutes. The view however was really great, and at night the city took an even more impressive sight. After the ride as it was quite late we decided to have a quick dinner and this time have some fish as we were just on the sea. I took a fish soup which tasted really good at a local restaurant facing the canal, from there we headed back to our hostel feeling very tired. The next day we woke up early and had a plentiful breakfast in the hostel. It was the 2nd of November thus my birthday and I was hoping to enjoy the day as much as possible. It already started out well by finally being able to see some sun. We decided to take a free walking tour of the city as it was going to take place at 10:30. Ania also decided to join us after taking a train from Koscierzyna where she had spent the last few days at her aunt's house. The guy giving us the tour was quite good and talkative those the others thought he spoke too much about the history of the city. Nonetheless it was a nice tour and after having seen the main attractions (again) we ended the tour at the Polish Post Office which used to be the place which supposedly started WWII when the personnel of the office resisted a German attack for 15 hours but then tragically got overrun and killed. Right after the tour we headed quickly into a place to have a quick lunch before leaving; they chose an Italian Pizzeria which at first I didn't want to go to but then accepted. We all had pizzas and after being forced to go to the bathroom I came back to the table where Ania had put down the cake she had got for me for my birthday. After that wonderful surprise, we headed to the train station to catch our train which then took us to Krakow 5 hours later.